The Foundations of a Legacy
by J4M3Z XO
Summary: Just four months into his developmental contract, Alex's career is starting to take shape. However, with a new boyfriend (and his secrets), a nosey sister and the ego's of the NXT roster, will he be thrown off course? OC story with NXT mains. Will move onto the main roster in future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_**The Foundations of a Legacy**_

**Warnings: Slash in future chapters, angst, handbags, the usual. **

**A/N: This is set in NXT to begin with and will stay down there for a while, but it'll continue into the main roster. I wrote this around Arrival time but pretty much; I can't use Paige's real name because it's so different to her ring name and I prefer Paige. Other characters that aren't Bayley will be called by both names though. And I'd love some reviews because who doesnt?**

* * *

"So, you're good with this angle, Bevis?" 'The American Dream' Dusty Rhodes asked from across the table.

"Yes sir, I'm perfectly fine working with Joel" The younger man nodded eagerly; four months into his developmental contract and he was already being given something to work with.

"The crowd obviously know your sister" the Dream continued, "but we felt like it'd be good for you to be away from her. Not to mention a big guy-little guy tag team has worked wonders for the tag-team division in the past".

"Joel is vastly experienced as a tag-team competitor, so I'm sure he'll be able to teach you a few things. The two of you will have to work on a few thing but then you should be good to go".

Nodding, the two stood up and shook hands before the pale raven-head (who vastly resembled his older sister) left the room.

"So, what did Dusty want?" His sister asked as he closed the door behind him. "You didn't get fired did you?"

"_Paige!_ No. They're pairing me and Joel up" Alex said, linking arms with his older sister. Sure, the two were only a year apart, but they were extremely close and she played the older sister role to a tee.

"Ooh, I hope Seth Rogen doesn't get too jealous!" the Anti-Diva cooed, referring to her brother's new beau, NXT Superstar Sami Zayn, much to his dismay.

"I'm not going to sit here and listen to you take jabs at my boyfriend" Alex said, crossing his arms with a small pout.

"Struck a nerve, did I?" Paige winked as the two made their way back to the elder's car to get her bags. "You can't tell me you don't find Joel attractive".

"I'm not saying I wouldn't, but I'm not trying to get a reputation right now".

"Ugh. You've been together for like a week and he's already your ball and chain. You never know, he might be up for spicing up his sex life" Paige smirked as she opened the trunk of her car and handed her bag to her brother.

"It's been _two months_ and, as I said, I don't want to sleep my way around the roster".

"So you didn't sleep with Riley a week into your developmental contract?" Paige questioned, cocking her eyebrow as she slammed the trunk of her car.

"_Paige!_ Way to just announce it to the world" Alex glared at her; looking around to make sure nobody heard them.

"Touchy" she commented as another car pulled into the parking lot.

After a moment of silence, Paige glanced at her little brother and noticed that he was actually annoyed by what she'd said. "Oh, come on!" she groaned. "You're such a girl!

"Alex, you know I didn't mean it!"

"When was the last time you even had a boyfriend…" Alex mumbled.

"Look, little bro, Seth Rogen's a nice guy, but he's like ten years older than you".

"His name is Rami, and you know I like older guys".

"God, you're such a toddler when you're tired. I just think you're out of your depth with him, that's all" she said honestly, aggravated by her brothers bratty attitude.

"See, this is why I didn't come out here straight away; you're always trying to control my life. And you always act as if I'm immature when you're only a year older than me. A year, Paige!"

"Alex, I'm just trying to help!" Paige insisted, although her brother was having none of it. "I know you like Sami but you don't know an awful lot about him –"

"It's _Rami_, and it's not like we're married" Alex interrupted.

"Whatever. How about the next time – before you bump uglies – you ask him about Cesaro!" Paige shouted, grateful that nobody was in the parking lot to see the two siblings go at it.

"You know what? I will. And, for your information, Rami and I haven't even had sex yet!" Alex all but screamed, walking away from his older sister, who was left to carry her own bags into the arena.

"You do know it's unbecoming to air your dirty laundry in public?" Corey Graves, the self-proclaimed Saviour of Misbehaviour, smirked as Alex passed his car on the way into the performance centre.

"Fuck off Corey!"

* * *

Hours later, Alex found himself watching others take part in promo class with Sami. Of course, it was up to you to have a turn on the mic, but Paige had ticked him off earlier and he wasn't particularly focused on his in-ring character at the moment. In fact, he was barely paying attention, which Sami noticed.

"Something wrong, babe?" Sami whispered in his ear as Enzo Amore and Big Kass, (who were usually extremely entertaining); cut a promo at the front of the room.

"Paige just bugged me earlier" Alex muttered. "She just doesn't know when to butt out".

A few of the others looked over and shushed the couple, as Enzo continued.

"Aww. But she's always teasing you, what made this time so different?" Sami asked, placing a kiss to Alex's temple to calm him down.

"She was talking about us; about you and Cesaro" Alex whispered just as a round of applause sounded around them, supposedly because Enzo and Cass had finished. Alex was oblivious to this however, as he felt his boyfriend tense up at the mention of the Swiss Superman.

"What was that?" Alex questioned, a little louder as the applause had yet to subside.

"Nothing" Sami said quickly, almost too quickly. "My back was just stiff".

"Is there something going on that I should know about?" Alex hissed as the rest of the roster started to file out of the room.

"Come on…babe - you don't trust me now?" Sami asked, seeing his younger boyfriend's quizzical look.

"I did trust you" Alex started. By now, most of the other NXT wrestlers had left the room, not that the couple noticed. "But I'm wondering if that was a mistake right now".

"Oh, come on!" Sami said, as Alex moved out of his embrace and stood up. "You're not gonna seriously let your sister get this deeply inside your head, are you?"

"This has nothing to do with her and you know it".

"Sometimes I really wonder why I bother with you, you know" Sami sighed.

"What happened with you and Cesaro, _Rami_?" Alex persisted, borderline angry at this point.

Sami went to open his mouth but the words wouldn't come out and, as much as he wanted to tell his current boyfriend about what had happened between him and Claudio, he just couldn't.

"Fine. I'll make my own way home tonight" Alex huffed, before turning on his heel and storming out of the room, leaving a clearly conflicted Sami Zayn in his wake.

* * *

"Fuck".

Alex had made his way out of the performance centre, intent on catching a ride home with Emma or Bayley, but it appeared the two divas were long gone. Now he was stuck at the performance centre with his bag and no way of getting home. And he was not going to call his sister for a ride, not after the drama she'd caused.

"Hey!" a familiar English accent called from behind him.

"Hey Joel" Alex said, offering a solemn smile to his new tag-team partner.

"Saw your lovers quarrel with Zayn earlier, are you alright?"

"We will be. I'm more pissed at my sister right now; she never knows when to butt out, you know?"

"My ex was like that – which is why she's an ex, but you shouldn't take that out on your man" Joel commented honestly.

"I can understand that. But anyway how's the little man doing?"

Joel's face immediately lit up at the mention of his son. "He's good, very good in fact – growing by the day. I talk to him most nights but it's not really the same…but hey, I just wanted to talk to you about this new tag-team business".

"I only found about it today. I did look for you but I was kinda trapped in my head all day" Alex said, putting on a friendly smile to the other, much taller man. "How's the ACL going by the way?"

"It's actually perfectly fine. I'm glad I got back when I did" Joel responded, his face falling a little at the mention of the injury. After all it had set him back half a year, and with Adrian getting a push for the title soon it was hard for him to not feel like he'd missed out. "Anyway, you looked a little lost?"

"…yeah, my sister and I had a bit of a row and you know I took it out on Sami, so I don't really have a ride home. I usually get a ride with the girls back to their place but they've all left without me, and I don't particularly want to talk to Paige or Sami right now".

"Oh. Well, that sucks. I mean, not to sound creepy or anything, but if you haven't got anywhere to stay you could crash on my couch tonight?" the Exeter man offered.

"Aren't you the gentlemen? I would really appreciate that" Alex accepted the offer gratefully. Some space from Sami and Paige for a night seemed like a good idea right now.

"What are tag-team partners for?" the elder Brit smiled, before motioning towards his car.

"Couldn't have said it better myself!" Alex said, following the bigger man to his car.

"My place actually isn't too far from here, actually" Joel said, keeping the conversation going. "I actually share the place with Adrian but he's gone out with some of the lads tonight".

"Well, that's even better then. I was thinking of getting my own place soon – being in my sister's spare room is starting to bug me, as you can see – but they're really expensive" Alex said, whipping his phone out of his bag and texting his sister.

_To: The Anti-Sister_

_Got a spot on Mr. Grey's couch 2night, bring clothes tomorrow? Xx_


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Foundations of a Legacy**_

* * *

A phone beeping woke Alex up the next morning. Immediately he was aware of a slight pain in his back, not too much, but enough to make him stretch out as he took in his surroundings. He was on an aged grey couch with a duvet wrapped around his lithe frame. "Ugh, shut up, shut up, shut up!" he groaned, reaching across to turn off the sound, only to knock it on the floor.

"Rough night?" a familiar Devon accent greeted him as he looked up to see his new tag-team partner, Oliver Grey, or Joel, as we known outside of the ring.

"You could say that" Alex said, sitting up against one of the couch's arms and running a hand through his now-grungy hair. "Adrian made his presence known at like 3 in the morning".

"Yeah, he's never slept well" The Devon native laughed at this, before settling in an armchair to Alex's left. "Oh, sorry, would you like a cuppa?"

"That would definitely improve my morning" Alex said, offering a thankful smile as he finally managed to silence his phone. He had a text from his sister and a text and a voicemail from Sami. _So that wasn't just a bad dream then?_

"Yeah, that couch was never too comfortable" Oliver said as he boiled the kettle. "What's ya sister saying then?"

"That she's 'sorry' and she'll bring me a change of clothes to the arena if I need them" Alex said, complete with air quotes. "It's more Sami I'm concerned about…"

"So he is ya fella then?" Oliver asked, politely and with genuine interest, which was rare for Alex. He was never a Pro at the coming out thing and, at work, kept a tightly knit clique of Sami, Paige, Bayley and Emma who he talked to. Everyone else just seemed disinterested or weren't comfortable talking about the topic. It wasn't like it was a secret when he and Sami were always openly affectionate towards each other; it was just rarely discussed among the male roster.

"Uh…yeah, you could say that; we've only been dating a few months. He was the first person I spoke to apart from Paige and Bayley at the performance centre, said he'd heard 'through the grapevine' that I was Paige's brother" Alex said, a small smile growing on his face at the memory.

"Do you not stay with him out here?" Joel asked, handing him a fresh mug of tea.

"Thank you" Alex nodded at his partner. "I think moving in's a bit fast after two months though, don't you?"

"I wouldn't really know. Me and my Ex were flatmates, so the moving in thing was never an issue" The taller man said. "Anyway, I better wake Adrian up".

"Cool, uh, where's the bathroom?" Alex asked with his phone and a mug of tea in hand.

"Straight down the hall, shout me if you need anything" Joel called back, followed by a door closing.

Locking the door behind him, Alex sunk to the floor against it, sipping the cup of tea Joel had made for him and fiddling with his phone until he'd reached Sami's message.

"_Hey – you know who it is…Look, I'm sorry about yesterday – everything with Cesaro, it's complicated. Just meet me at the performance centre – I was thinking we could go out for dinner? See ya then_".

* * *

Alex stood outside the Performance Centre, with the rays of the oppressive Florida sunshine bearing down on him. After taking a quick shower and a bite to eat, he, Joel and Adrian Neville had made their way to the performance centre. The topic in the car soon turned to football (what Americans knew as soccer), which made Alex feel a lot more at home around the two fellow Brits, even if one was a Geordie and the other from Devon.

He was now waiting for his sister in slightly baggy clothes (luckily, Adrian was a lot closer to his size than Joel was), and was urging her to hurry up. Just as he saw a familiar car pull up, a cab dropped off a certain Saviour of Misbehaviour, wearing sunglasses and walking sluggishly, with his bag over his shoulder. "Keep the change" the tatted man called behind him.

"Is that a hangover I sense, Mr. Graves?"

"Ugh, like you wouldn't believe!" Graves exclaimed over melodramatically, before slowly regaining his usual cocky demeanour. "Aren't vampires afraid of the light?"

"Hilarious!" Alex said sarcastically.

"You know you love it!" Corey smirked. "So, did you get lost on your walk of shame?"

"What?" Alex said, caught off guard.

"The clothes, they clearly aren't yours. Don't worry though, I won't tell El Generico that his British twink's been playing away, _if _you cut me a piece of that action".

"Ugh, you sleaze" Alex said, disgusted, to which Corey just laughed.

"Can't blame a guy for trying!" he said, with that trademark smirk as he walked into the performance centre.

"Go take a shower Corey!" Alex called as he turned to see his sister, with Bayley beside her.

"Well if it isn't my little brother!" Paige greeted him, giving him a small hug despite their argument yesterday. It was how they were really; they'd fight to the death one day and be best friends the next.

"Hey Alex!" Bayley squeaked, joining in on the hug.

"Wow, whose clothes are you wearing?" Paige snorted, laughing at the loose-fitting jogging bottoms and plain red V-neck. "I'm so taking a picture of this".

"Don't you dare!" Alex shrieked, lunging at her and managing to grab his sister's phone.

"Can I just get changed in your car, _please_?" Alex begged.

"Here's the key, and there's your bag" Paige laughed, throwing the keys to her car in the air for her brother to catch. "Guess we'll see you in there".

With that, the two divas left Alex to get changed. He was halfway through changing when somebody knocked on the open car window.

"Can't you see I'm getting changed here!" Alex said, annoyed, until he saw who it was that had knocked on the window.

"Oh, I was watching. It just got a bit less exciting when you put your pants on" a familiar voice said from behind him.

"Sami!" Alex chuckled, opening the door for him.

"If I knew I'd see you like this I'd arrange lunch dates every day" the older man laughed, going in for a kiss that the younger accepted. Although this wasn't your average kiss, it was forceful and passionate, but Alex knew Sami was just trying to say sorry. Soon enough, the two were full-on making out in the backseat of Paige's car, hands roaming.

"Babe…stop" Alex managed to get out between kisses. "We are not having sex in the back of my sister's car, she'd kill me".

"Oh, trust me, she set the ground rules a long time ago" Sami said.

"She gave you the talk?" Alex asked, to which Sami nodded. "That's a bit…normal, for her".

"I'm sorry about yesterday" Sami said, as sweetly as possible.

"Oh, so you think a few kisses and everything's forgotten? Nope. You've got some making up to do, Sebei" Alex said, with a playful smile, although the Cesaro thing was still at the back of his mind.

"Seems fair" Sami sighed. "Why don't we discuss this over some coffee?"

"Well, we do have the keys".

* * *

"Why did we come to Starbucks again, I hate the smell of coffee?" Alex said, sipping on his tea.

"Because Starbucks" Sami said simply.

"True…but I think we came here to talk".

"The Cesaro thing isn't ongoing. It's over now…but we kind of had a fling. I fell harder than I should have, but then you were here and that got me through it.

"I just didn't want to tell you because it'd bother you, especially when we're facing off at Arrival. Please don't worry about it though, it's in the past" Sami finished.

"I'm not sure how to feel about that…" Alex trailed off, lost in his train of thought. It was clear Sami wasn't completely over Cesaro yet, but he was afraid of having that confirmed because he had become quite infatuated with the older man. "But, as long as we're being honest…I kind of slept with Alex Riley in my first week of being over here".

"Wow" Sami said. "And here was me thinking you were one of those no sex before marriage types".

"I get a little carried away when I'm drunk" Alex shrugged, happy that they were putting this small road bump behind them. "That's why only you and Paige know, and possibly Graves because he's always lurking in the shadows".

The couple fell into a small silence, until Sami noticed the time.

"I think we'd better get over to the performance centre. No need to give Huge Morris a reason to be a dick" he joked, leaving a $20 tip on their table as the couple got up walked out of the Starbucks, hand in hand, having overcame the first obstacle in their relationship, although one side had only partly told the truth to their partner.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Foundations of a Legacy**

_**A/N:** **This is the week before Arrival, and the next Chapter will take place during Arrival, mainly focused on Sami and Cesaro's match. Hope you like it xx**_

* * *

Alex was exhausted.

With Arrival just around the corner, the performance centre was in overdrive. So naturally, he and Joel had had a long day of training in the performance centre.

Even though Joel had been part of a tag team before on NXT, they'd been training with a few of the up and coming teams. Today it had been Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger and the Legionnaires.

They'd gone over basic tag team moves, working together and pacing the matches for hours.

The most positive thing, however, was that the two had worked on perfecting their finisher.

Nick had suggested they use a double team move as their finish like classic tag teams did, to the approval of Bill, who was hovering around most of the performers all day, shouting his interpretation of encouragement. He had said it was important to build up to it instead of hitting it out of nowhere, however.

After testing the waters on a few moves, they'd settled on the combination of a Gory special and a cutter, (dubbed as a Gory Cutter until they could come up with a reasonable name), and had seemingly perfected it.

Joel was a bit bothered that he'd been told to be more of a power house in the ring, but he'd seemed to forget about that by the time they were done.

"I am shattered" Oliver said, as the two stood outside the performance centre, waiting for Adrian and Sami, respectively.

"You'd think we'd be used to it by now".

"Yeah, but doing that and weights is something you always feel".

"If I lifted as much as you then I'd probably understand. It's pretty much double what I do" Alex said, not to mention it wouldn't suit him to be as muscular as Joel was, being that he was the 'little guy' of the team/

"I think you could bulk up a little, it did wonders for Cody Rhodes" Joel pointed out. "Not that people don't like your body already…"

"Well yeah, but Sami's a bit different to the WWE higher ups".

"Grey, Baby Diva" Corey Graves nodded to the two, emerging from the shadows as always.

"Are you ever not eavesdropping?" Alex asked jokingly.

"I didn't hear much" Graves admitted. "But personally, I thought you looked fine in those little shorts earlier".

"Of course you'd be checking me out every chance you get".

"Can you blame me? It's not like you ever try to cover up" Graves teased, flashing his trademark smirk. It always bothered Alex how easily the Pittsburgh native got under his skin. It was a trait that his sister had and that scared him.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak to Alex like that" Sami interrupted, emerging from the performance centre, with Adrian Neville behind him.

"In fact, I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk to him, or look at him, ever, again" Sami continued, stepping into Graves' personal space.

"Relax Generico; I was only pulling his leg" Corey backed off a little, intimidated. Not many people had seen the protective side of Sami Zayn - not even Alex had seen it up until now.

"No, you weren't. You pretty much said he dressed like a slag to get attention from trainers" Sami continued, all that hanging out with Paige was doing no good for his manners.

"Babe, can we not do this here, _please_?" Alex pleaded, not wanting the two to make a scene.

Alex looked at Joel and Adrian for help but they were a little bit taken aback by this exchange; it took a lot to piss Sami off, but Graves had done so with a fairly harmless joke.

"Aww isn't that cute. At least he cares enough to stop you from getting yourself suspended" Corey sneered at Sami, seeing how enraged he was. "It'll be a shame when you ditch him for Cesaro at arrival".

Now that crossed the line.

Before Alex could even react, Graves was knocked to the floor in one single punch.

Sami then spat something in Arabic at the other man on the floor before storming off.

"You're such a wanker, Corey" Alex muttered, going after his boyfriend before Sami did anything he'd regret. He couldn't believe Graves had the nerve to use their personal business against them and, not only that, but that was far from Graves' usually relaxed, joking manner, which Alex hadn't seen before either.

Graves sat, dejected and furious, on the ground, looking up at the two other Brits who had just watched this all go down. They were both stunned.

"Well, are you gonna help me up or what?" he barked at the two men, who just shook their heads.

"You did this to yourself, Graves" Adrian said, as he and Oli walked away, leaving Graves to wallow in his self-pity on the cold, hard pavement.

* * *

"Sami wait!"

Sami had stormed off without even noticing that Alex was following him. Sighing, Sami held himself up on a nearby bench.

It wasn't just what Graves had said that angered him; it was also the reaction it got out of Alex. Alex still didn't trust him when it came to Cesaro, and that scared Sami because Sami didn't trust himself when it came to Cesaro.

It wasn't just a fling with Cesaro.

To Sami it was so much more. They'd just connected in the ring so well in their matches that they'd ended up taking that passion out of the ring. It was real. And it was something Sami hadn't felt in a long time.

Then, unexpectedly, Cesaro stopped taking his calls and didn't take him out to eat as much, claiming he was "too busy" to cater to Sami's needs. That wasn't the man that Sami had fallen for, but with Cesaro picking up momentum on the main roster, Sami hadn't broken it off completely.

They hadn't really broken up, and the need for closure hadn't died down in Sami, despite Alex coming into his life and the promise of a main roster push this summer. It was just something he needed in order to move on.

"Would you look at me?" Alex asked, finally catching up with his enraged boyfriend.

"You can't let Graves get a rise out of you like that Rami, he's just a prick".

"It's not just about Graves…" Sami trailed off.

"Then what is it about then?"

"You think I'm just gonna get up and leave you for Cesaro" Sami said, it wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Don't be ridiculous-" Alex started, but Sami interrupted him.

"Can we just get this out of the way, please?" he said, the sudden impatience in his tone scaring the younger man a little.

"Tell me you don't think I'm going to run off with Cesaro" Sami dared the younger man to lie, he dared him. Part of him wanted to believe the lie, so that he could just get it over with and prove everyone right.

But the other side of him liked the dynamic Alex brought into his life; somebody to lean on and talk to whenever he wanted, he hadn't gotten that from Cesaro every day and every night.

"I can't…" Alex admitted.

"Why don't you trust me, Alex?"

"It's not just you…It's me" Alex trailed off, looking at the ground. "I can't give you what Cesaro gives you; the sex, the indie scene, he's a better wrestler…He can give you so much more than I can, so why wouldn't leave me for him?"

This time it was Sami who was speechless.

It dawned on him that this Cesaro thing wasn't just his problem; he hadn't even thought about how deeply insecure Alex could be, because to him it was just distrust between them and nothing else. And to think he was supposed to be the mature one.

"Wow" Sami said, exhaling loudly. "I am so sorry. I didn't even think about how all of this must make you feel".

"It makes sense that you didn't; it's just that he's a rising star, he worked the Indies, he's older…he pretty much has everything that I don't, so I wouldn't blame if you did" Alex explained, cursing himself for getting so emotional. If there was one thing Bevis' hated, it was being vulnerable.

"Alex, I swear to you, that I will never do that. I will never inflict that sort of pain on you" Sami said, holding the younger man's head between his hands and gazing with honesty and passion into the dark orbs of his younger lover. "I want to watch you blossom into this WWE star; from taking over the tag team division in NXT and the main roster, and even beyond that. I want us to be able to do that together, because I wanted that from him, and I didn't get that".

Silently, Alex fell into the other man's arms, emotionally overwhelmed by the statement that he'd just heard. "Just remember that next time we get in a tiff, okay?" Sami joked, placing a kiss to the top of Alex's head.

"I could use a good action flick right now" Alex said after a while, having regained his usual confidence.

"Oh yeah, what were you thinking?"

"I'm thinking Terminator. Me, you, Paige, Dashwood" Alex said, standing up and linking hands with Sami.

Now they just had to find Sami's car.


End file.
